Only the hockey gods know if Team USA's Olympic joyride through the men's ice hockey tournament in Vancouver will end atop the medal podium or come to a screeching halt over the weekend.
The Americans winning the whole damn thing would be nice, of course. It won't matter to me, though. They have provided more than enough thrills since taking the ice for the first time nine days ago.
Team USA's 2-0 blanking of Switzerland in Wednesday's quarterfinal was no exception.
Playing a Swiss team that was tired both physically and emotionally after its shootout win over Belarus on Tuesday, the Americans made the must-win game much more tense than it needed to be.
The Swiss attack was pretty much what you would expect from a country known for its neutrality. However, thanks to the sparkling play of Jonas Hiller, the hottest goalie in the Olympics (no offense, Ryan Miller), the game was somehow knotted at 0-0 after two periods.
But Zach Parise finally beat Hiller (who made 42 saves) on a power play early in the third, then buried an empty-net goal in the closing seconds to get the U.S. to the semifinals.
Nervous fans — myself included — could finally exhale.
The Americans on Friday face the winner of Wednesday night's quarterfinal between Finland and the Czech Republic (the game's result happened past b's bedtime), but they will be playing with house money. Like Dante Hicks in "Clerks," they're not even supposed to be here today.
Built in GM Brian Burke's image (or at least what he thought the prototypical North American squad would look like), the fast and feisty young Americans have already advanced further than most puck pundits predicted.
No one expected them to roll through the preliminary round, mainly because they would have to knock off the mighty Canadians to do so. But Sunday night, as millions of viewers across the U.S. and Canada tuned in for an Olympic border war, the Americans pulled off the upset, 5-3.
The whole thing was surreal. Defenseman Brian Rafalski buried two first-period goals. Miller held down the American fort as well as one could ask, stopping 42 of 45 shots. And Ryan Kesler put the game on ice, figuratively, with what might have been the nicest empty-netter I've ever seen.
I don't know what was more unlikely: The U.S. team making Canadian goaltending great Martin Brodeur look like a rec league ankle-bender, or my fellow Americans actually giving a hoot about hockey. I say the latter.
After the game, while our neighbors to the North cried in their Molson Canadians, fans and the media tried to put the win into perspective. Comparisons to Lake Placid, circa 1980, were all the rage. The fact that Monday was the 30th anniversary of the "Miracle on Ice," one of the biggest upsets in sports history, only added fuel to a fire of hyperbole.
It was a fine win for the Americans, but I don't know about all that. Stunning? Sure. Thrilling? You betcha.
But miraculous? Well, not exactly.
This is one of the youngest teams the U.S. has ever fielded, but most of its players are stars. A few — Patrick Kane, Phil Kessel and Miller — are among the league's brightest.
That team in 1980 was a bunch of college kids who David-and-Goliathed the Soviets, the best hockey team in history.
And the win ended the Cold War. Everybody knows that.
Save the comparisons for the water cooler on Monday morning, should the Americans even make it a discussion.
In the meantime, sit back, strap in and enjoy the joyride.
Gold medal or not, I know I will.
Matt Vensel is a content creator for b. Follow him on Twitter, @mattvensel.